Teapot or the like



June 2, 1959 J. G. LIVINGSTONE TEAPOT OR THE. LIKE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG. 3

Filed Feb. 6, 1956 INVENTOR. JAY G. LIVINGSTONE BY /M FIG-4 ATTORNEY J1me 1959 J. G. LIVINGSTONE 2,889,080

TEAPOT OR THE LIKE Filed Feb. 6, 1956 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. JAY G. LlVINGSTON E ATTORNEY June 2, 1959 J. G. LIVINGSTONE TEAPOT OR THE LIKE 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Feb. 6, 1956 INVENTOR.

JAY G. LIVINGSTONE a wax ATTORNEY United States Patent Ol ce TEAPOT OR THE LIKE Jay Gould Livingstone, Akron, Ohio Application February 6, 1956, Serial No. 563,821

4 Claims. (Cl. 222-109) This invention relates to a non-drip design of teapot or other vessel with a pouring spout and having at least one additional opening such as the opening in a teapot through which the pot is filled.

In the vessel of this invention, liquid which adheres to the pouring lip after the completion of a pouring operation and then either drips from the pouring lip or drains down the outer surface of the spout, is collected in a drain-back channel which returns it to the interior of the pouring spout. This channel has a high point under the pouring lip, and at the low point drains into the back of the spout, returning all liquid which collects in the channel to the vessel instead of allowing it to drip or run down onto the tablecloth or other surface on which the vessel rests.

In vessels of the preferred design the opening through which the vessel is filled is so designed and so located that there is no possibility of any liquid escaping from the spout through the drain-back channel during the pouring operation.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my application Serial No. 290,227 filed May 27, 1952, now Patent No. 2,743,844, dated May 1, 1956, and that, in turn, is a division of my application Serial No. 130,432 filed December 1, 1949 which is now US. No. 2,601,039, dated June 17, 1952.

The invention will be further described in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a side view, partly in section, of a teapot of a preferred design in the upright position;

Fig. 2 is a detail on the line 22 of Fig. 1 showing a front view of the spout and drain-back;

Fig. 3 is a detail showing a side view of the spout and drain-back;

Fig. 4 is a top view of the teapot shown in Fig. 1 with a portion of the handle broken away;

Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are side views, in section, of the teapot of Fig. 1 in different positions;

Fig. 8 is a view of the teapot shown in Fig. 24 of US. 2,601,039, with the teapot in pouring position;

Fig. 9 is an exploded detail, in section, showing the manner of assembling the drain-back spout into the tea- P Fig. 10 is a detail showing the assembled spout and where it is trimmed;

Fig. 11 is a side view of a teapot, partly broken away, with an alternative type of drain-back;

Fig. 12 is a top view of the same;

Figs. 13 and 14 are sections through the drain-back on the lines 13-13 and 1414, respectively, of Fig. 11; and

Fig. 15 is a section through a modified spout, the vessel being upright, with a drain-back of the type illustrated in Fig. 11.

The teapot of Fig. 1 includes the body 1, the handle 2, and the cover 3 which is in the opening 4. In molding the teapot, the lip portion of the spout is molded separately from the body portion just as the handle is usually 2,889,080 Patented June 2, 1959 molded separately, and after molding and before firing the spout is fastened to the body portion in the same manner that such a handle is fastened to the body portion.

Figure 9 is an exploded view which shows the method of forming the spout, and Fig. 10 shows its assembly. The body portion 1 is molded with an upwardly extending flange 7 and a seat 8 on which the separately molded spout is placed before firing. This. portion of the body of the teapot is molded without any opening or connection between the exterior of the pot and its interior. A core fits against the inner wall of the flange 7 and forms the ledge 8, fits against the inner wall of the portion 9 and fits over the closure 10. The body of the teapot is formed in a mold in the usual manner except for such modifications as are necessary to form the flange 7 and accommodate the core. The slip is introduced into the mold through an opening which more or less coincides with the opening 4 of the teapot, and the entire wall of the body portion is cast of uniform thickness except where the core necessitates the formation of portions of different thickness, as illustrated in Fig. 9.

The spout 12 is separately molded. It is formed with a boss 13 on its outer surface. The upper surface 14 of this boss forms the bottom of the drain-back channel in the assembled pot. It continues back around both sides of the spout 12 and drains on to the surface 15 of the body of the teapot. The pouring lip 16 preferably slopes forward appreciably from the perpendicular for a reason which will be more fully explained in connection with the discussion of Fig. 8.

The molded spout is inserted in the cored-out portion of the body as illustrated in Fig. 10. The two are cemented together in the same manner that the ends of the handle are cemented to the body of the pot. This technique is well known in the industry. After the two parts are assembled the partition 10 is cut away on the dotted line 18. This forms the baffle 20. Its function will be explained in what follows. The spout 12, as shown in Fig. 9, is made thicker than is ultimately required, in order that it will withstand the handling to which it is necessarily subjected in being removed from its mold and assembled with the rest of the pot. The unwanted material is removed by trimming the inner surface of the spout back to the dotted line 18, shown in Fig. 10.

After assembling the spout onto the body of the pot, and the handle also where necessary, the pot is glazed, decorated (if desired) and fired. Care must. be taken that excess glaze does not collect in the run-back channel; or if it does it must be removed before the pot is fired. Any usual procedures for decorating and firing may be followed.

For a plastic teapot which does not need glazing, the proportions shown in the drawings form a satisfactory drain-back. If the pot is made of a ceramic material that must be glazed, it may be necessary to have the flange 7 flare more to make a wider or deeper channel which will not be entirely filled by glaze which drains into it from the spout 12. Alternatively, the glaze used on the insert shown in Fig. 9 may be mixed with wax which burns when the teapot is fired, leaving a light-colored glaze on this portion of the vessel. This type of glaze will not drain appreciably down the outer wall of the spout 12 and collect in the drain-back channel.

Figure 1 shows the assembled pot after firing. The flange 7 of Fig. 9 forms the wall designated 7 in Fig. 1. The back of the spout 12 is open, as more clearly illustrated in Fig. 4, and the channel 17 empties into it back of the ears of the spout 12. Liquid collected in the channel 17 drains down over the surface 15 back into the teapot. This surface 15. is inclined inwardly at a slight angle.

Figures 5, 6 and 7 show the pot of Fig. 1 in three diiferent positions. In Fig. the pot is upright; in Fig. 6 it is tilted for pouring. It is important to note that at no time during the pouring operation is the level 25 of the stream of liquid in the pouring spout above the junction 26 of the ears of the spout 12 and the surface 15 which returns liquid from the drain-back channel back into the spout. If the level of the liquid in the spout should rise above this junction 26, liquid would flow over the surface 15 into the rear of the drain-back channel and then out over the underlip 27 (Fig. 6), because with the teapot tilted in the position shown in Fig. 6 the bottom of the drain-back under the lip 16 is lower than the bottom of the drain-back at the rear of the spout where it joins the surface 15.

It will be noted that in Fig. 1 the back of the opening 4 is considerably below the front of the opening 4. The low point of the opening determines the amount of liquid that can be held in the teapot when the teapot is in the upright position. The back of the opening in this preferred design of pot is made appreciably lower than the front of the opening in order to lessen the amount of liquid that can be put in the pot to the point that when the pot is in the position illustrated in Fig. 7, which is intended to be the extreme position to which the pot can be conveniently tipped for pouring while held by the handle 2, the liquid level is below the opening 4-. It would not be accurate to say that the back of the opening 4 is so low that when the pot is turned to the position shown in Fig. 7 all of the liquid in the pot will be below the front or low point of the opening 4. As a matter of fact, the amount of liquid in the pot when it is in the upright position shown in Figs. 1 and 5 is somewhat more than could be contained in the pot in the position shown in Fig. 7 if the spout were plugged up. Appreciable liquid is poured from the spout as the pot is turned from the upright position to the position shown in Fig. 7 and the amount of liquid that drains from the spout during this initial stage of the pouring operation is an excess of the amount that can be contained in the pot when the pot is in the position shown in Fig. 7 with the liquid filled to the low point of the opening 4.

The advantages of the preferred design shown in Figs. 1-7 will be more clearly evident if Fig. 8 is first discussed.

The teapot illustrated in Fig. 8 is the teapot of Fig. 24 of US. 2,601,039. With the teapot in the position shown in Fig. 8, and with the liquid level as there shown, the baflie 30 prevents the liquid from entering the drain-back channel 31 and being poured over the lip 32 instead of being poured over the pouring lip 33. This bafiie 30 has utility in a pot of this design with the pot in various positions and with the liquid at various levels. However, it is possible to put suflicient liquid in this pot with the pot held in certain positions so that the bafile is no longer effective in preventing liquid from running out through the drain-back channel.

This is not possible in the pot of the preferred design. The greater the distance that the spout extends perpendicular up from the drain-back channel, the greater the opportunity for the liquid to over-flow into the drainback channel. When the preferred pot is tilted to the position shown in Fig. 6, the high point of the inner surface of the spout and the junction of the rear of the drain-back with the surface 15 of the spout are both in substantially the same horizontal plane. When this plane, extended across the body of the spout, measures the top level of all the liquid that the spout can contain when the pot is in the upright position, liquid can never flow outwardly from the spout into the drainback. In other words, when the preferred spout in the upright position is filled so that the liquid level is determined by the low point of the opening 4, and the spout is then a of flowing out of the spout over the lip 16.

tilted to the position shown in Fig. 6, the level of the The baflle 20 holds the liquid back and prevents a surge of liquid from pouring from the spout out over the junction of the back of the drain-back with the surface 15.

It has been previously mentioned, that if the vessel is glazed after the spout insert has been assembled with the rest of the vessel, glaze may drain from the spout 12 into the drain-back channel, and at least partially fill it. This is avoided by providing a drain channel from the spout into the opening 4 through which the teapot is filled. Such a channel is shown in Figs. 11-14. Liquid which drips from the lip 16, or runs down outside of the spout 12, collects in the channel 17, and drains downwardly from there through the channel 50 into the opening 4, preferably through the notch 52 in its forward edge. Glaze which drains from the outer surface of the spout 12 follows the same course, although ordinarily it does not flow the whole length of the channel 50.

In the pot of Figs. 11-14 it is not important to have the opening 4 slant downwardly. It may be level, or substantially level, and the vessel may be filled full of liquid, because before any liquid will flow out of the pot into the drain-back channel, the pot must be tilted sufficiently for the liquid to run out through the opening or notch 52. This presents an entirely different situation from that which exists in the designs of the other figures where liquid may fiow out of the spout into the drainback channel. On comparing the dotted lines of Fig. 11 with the dotted lines in Fig. 10, it will be seen that the spout of the vessel of Fig. 11 is preferably made separately from the body of the vessel, and the two are then assembled, and the interior of the spout is trimmed as described in connection with the structure illustrated in Fig. 10, except that no baffle is provided. There is no need for a bafile because the back of the spout is not open and there is no possibility of liquid flowing from the spout into the drain-back regardless of how much the vessel is tipped for pouring.

The spout of Fig. 15 has no lip and is designed for molding integrally with the body of the vessel. When a lip is required it is desirable to mold the spout separately, as described, and then attach it to the body of the vessel, but it is possible to mold the spout without a lip, as illustrated in Fig. 15, and then upon removing the vessel from the mold and while the slip is still soft enough to mold, the forward part of the spout may be shaped to form a lip which may have the final form of the lip shown in Fig. 11.

The invention has been described more particularly in connection with a teapot. However, it applies to a creamer and other vessels in which there is at least one other opening than the opening through which the liquid is poured. If there is only one opening in the vessel the air must enter this opening as the liquid is poured out through it. That presents a different situation from the situation illustrated where air enters the opening 4 (through the opening 40 in the cover of the pot when the cover is tightly in place, as illustrated in Fig. 1). In such a vessel, during the pouring operation the opening through the spout may be completely filled with liquid because it is not necessary for air to enter the spout above the liquid.

What I claim is:

1. A vessel for liquid, provided with a pouring spout and a pouring lip thereon, and a separate opening with a lid through which the vessel is adapted to be filled, and an open drain-back channel located on the outside of the spout which drains from the front of the outside wall of the spout into said separate opening through an open passageway on the top of the vessel whereby liquid leaving the pouring lip externally of the spout at the completion of a pouring operation is collected by the drain-back channel and returned to the vessel through said separate opening.

2. The vessel of claim 1 in which said separate opening is located entirely below the portion of the drain-back channel at the front of the spout.

3. The vessel of claim 1 in which said separate opening is located entirely below the portion of the drain-back channel at the front of the spout and the rear of said opening is located below its front portion.

4. A vessel for liquid, provided with a spout having a pouring lip, and a separate opening to the rear of the spout, a drain-back channel which when the vessel is upright has its high point under the pouring lip of the spout, which channel slopes backwardly on both sides of the spout in two paths from said high point, said paths merging at the rear of the spout into a single path which leads backwardly to an open passageway on the top of the vessel which empties into said separate opening.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 15,128 Goodrich June 17, 1856 512,438 Hallowell Jan. 9, 1894 555,395 Noice Feb. 25, 1896 573,759 Brown Dec. 22, 1896 1,271,988 Anderson July 9, 1918 1,434,740 Gibson Nov. 7, 1922 2,183,944 Salisbury Dec. 19, 1939 2,346,540 Osterheld Apr. 11, 1944 2,699,591 Gould et a1. Jan. 18, 1955 

